Uzbek Student Stabbed To Death In Dispute Over Cotton Picking

A university student in Uzbekistan's eastern Andijon Province has been stabbed to death, allegedly by a laborer who was hired to replace her during mandatory cotton-picking work.

An Andijon police official told RFE/RL on October 30 that 25-year-old Botir Yuldoshev has been charged with attacking Zulfia Akhmedova and her mother on October 25 after they reportedly refused to pay him.

It is the 10th death to have occurred at mandatory cotton-picking sites in Uzbekistan in the last several weeks from a variety of causes, including suicide, electrocution, and a previous fatal stabbing.

Uzbek authorities have been criticized for coercing children to work in the cotton fields.